Broken Pieces
by Flying Iridescent Llamas
Summary: The last time he had been this frightened was when he awoke one night to Type: Null screaming as it tried to claw its helmet off. An unexpected visitor sheds some light on the mysterious Plate. (Haudion/Cutebonesshipping, written for theme #76, "Broken Pieces", third in the Isolation series)


**A/N: Thanks to Hunterx700 for beta-ing this on such short notice! 3**

 **Thank you all so much for the response on the previous fics. I am so amazed that they were well received. 3 You are all awesome.**

 **I guess it needs to be said, but the currently prevailing theory is that Mohn is Lillie and Gladion's father. The theory goes that after being sucked into a wormhole, he somehow made his way out into the Poke Pelago.**

 **As always, my tumblr is llamastheflying if you wanna hit me up with any questions or complaints.**

Falling for Hau was a quiet feeling that Gladion never expected.

He'd expected love to be a sudden, life changing event. Everyone else had made it seem that way, especially the shitty professor Kukui with his loud professions of love for his wife.

After the night in Hau's bedroom and recovering from the fever, life had mostly returned to normal. Their routine went on as usual, though there might have been more physical affection than before: a kiss on the head or cheek as Hau left for the day, laying together on the couch while watching a movie.

Gladion wasn't disappointed by their slowly changing relationship though, and was actually rather relieved. That hadn't really discussed what had happened that night and he liked the idiotic Hau he'd always known, not one that changed just because of quiet kisses in the dark when a fever made him (stupidly) brave enough to admit to wanting something. Wanting him.

Two weeks after that feverish night, he'd trekked down to Hau'oli City to restock on some groceries after Hau had left for the day. He'd reached a standstill as far as anything with Silvally went and preferred menial tasks to doing nothing at all. After returning to Iki Town with a few plastic bags in his hands (and dodging a few of Hau's relatives on the way), he was met with the sight of an odd bird Pokemon standing by the front door when he turned down the path to the house. It was rigid, obviously standing guard, and Gladion saw the glint of metal on the edge of wings (flippers). It did nothing other than eye him as he approached the house and turned its attention out towards the yard once more when he opened the door. Apparently, he passed this strange Pokemon's inspection.

"Alola, Gladion!" Hau called to him from a couch, where he sat with an unfamiliar young woman.. Across from them, the Kanto champions lounged on the other couch. He gave a small wave as he toed off his shoes, hearing his sister's voice in his head say, "Be sociable, Gladion!"

Blue shoved at Red as he walked over and told him, "Let him have your seat!" Red gave him an exasperated look. "Because you're not going to contribute anything to the conversation!" Blue said in reply to the look and Gladion had to wonder if he was psychic or had just been friends with Red long enough to know what he was thinking from just a look.

Gladion started to say, "That's not necessary," but Red had already stood up with a huff and gone over to the glass door before stepping outside. He could see Red's Pikachu playing with Hau's Raichu out in the yard as he hesitantly sat down next to Blue, giving the man a glare that promised a world of hurt if he did anything while he sat there. Blue only smirked.

"Gladion, this is Dawn, the champion from the Sinnoh region," Hau said, and Dawn reached across the coffee table to shake his hand. "She was away on a contest tour while you were in Sinnoh, so that's probably why you didn't get a chance to meet her when you challenged the League there."

"She's only slightly less quiet than Red," Blue said with a snort, "unless you get her going about archaeology. She heard about your untrained monstrosity when she got back and wanted to see it for herself."

"Silvally is very well trained," Gladion snapped at him. "You can't blame it for snapping at you when you just marched up to it with no warning."

"Sure, whatever," Blue drawled. "It's still a monstrosity."

Gladion could feel his hackles rise, but tried to take a few deep breaths to calm down. Dawn giggled behind her hand, before reaching over her side of the couch. Gladion could see that there was a stack of boxes right under the arm. She passed one to Hau and placed one in her own lap, leaving a few more sitting on the floor. She lifted the top off, revealing some sort of chain sitting on fabric within the box.

"I heard about your dilemma with the plates from my region from Hau," she said as she gently lifted the chain out of the box, looping it around her hand a few times. The scarlet color starkly contrasted with her pale skin. "I'm glad I thought to bring the items I did. I was made aware of Silvally's existence when I last visited Hearthome and I think I can see why you were gifted the Plate. Do you know Silvally's genetic makeup?" Gladion shook his head.

"Whatever its genetics actually are, the Aether Foundation has seemingly has made Pokemon remarkably similar to Arceus," Dawn continued. "The building you visited in Hearthome is dedicated to the guardians of the Sinnoh region. Though worshipped elsewhere, Arceus was one such Pokemon revered there. The worshipper that gave you the plate saw a striking similarity between Silvally and Arceus, and I'm inclined to believe the resemblance goes deeper than appearance.

"I have an item with me today that might help us prove the link between the two. A few years ago, I witnessed a syndicate bind the guardians of the region with a chain much like this one. While that one was synthetically created from the Lake guardians and destroyed during the ordeal, this one was unearthed from an archaeological dig. From what we understand from the context of the dig, this chain is similar in nature to the wheel which binds Arceus to its current form."

She handed the chain to him and Gladion held it pooled in his hands. He felt the hair on the back of his neck rise up the moment it touched his skin. Perhaps this was similar to the feeling Hau described when holding the plate while at the Pelago. Whatever this thing was, it was held much more latent power than the plate.

"While the wheel on its back binds Arceus, it also allows for its power to influenced by a plate, changing Arceus's very makeup to represent that element. From what I understand, Silvally has a similar ability with its RKS System. If Silvally is in anyway linked to Arceus, perhaps binding a plate to it with this chain will provoke a similar response."

"How do you know all of this?" he asked, slightly in awe. She treated him with a small, wry smile.

"Let's just say I have some hands on experience dealing with the legends from my region. Now, let's head outside and see if we can get Silvally to react to the chain. Hau, would you mind retrieving one of the plates?"

Gladion was unsettled by the prospect of inflicting something that had bound near god level Pokemon on his partner, but got up and followed Dawn outside. Hau followed soon after with the original red plate. Dawn took it from him and ran her fingers over it gently.

"It's a Flame Plate," she told them as she studied the inscription. "Normally, it would boost any Fire-type moves a Pokemon has, but it will hopefully have a different reaction with Silvally. Gladion, if I may have the chain?"

Gladion happily handed the red links over to her, instantly relieved when the hum of power stopped echoing through his body when it left his hand. She wound it around the plate and secured it with a loop dangling off of it. He eyed it with unease, presuming that he'd have to coax Silvally into letting him hang it around its neck. Something didn't seem right with the chain, but this was might be the thing that helped them break through the secrets behind Silvally and the remaining Type: Nulls.

He called out Silvally, who promptly stared down Blue when it noticed.

"Aww, look, it remembers me!" he crowed.

"I'm sure it remembers the taste of you fingers more than your face," Gladion mumbled. Silvally clicked its beak in warning at Blue, causing Red, who was sitting on the railing of the deck with his Pikachu and Hau's Raichu, to release a soft chuckle. Dawn looked to be in awe.

"I can definitely see the resemblance," she told him. "It's definitely different, but there's some elements in its appearance that suggest that it could have been modeled after Arceus."

Dawn handed him the chain bound plate and he took a step towards Silvally. The Pokemon turned its attention to him and started to back away, a low growl sounding from its throat. He couldn't remember the last time Silvally had growled at him specifically.

"Hey, easy, it's just me," he whispered, trying to soothe it. Silvally tossed its head and growled again, but didn't back away any further. He held up the plate once more and it flinched. "We're just gonna try this really quick, okay bud? It's just another exercise with the plate."

Before Silvally could react further, Gladion quickly stepped up to it and let the chain fall over its head. The chain hung like an odd necklace around its neck. At first, nothing seemed to happen, and Gladion breathed out a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, a bright red light pulsed through the chain once, twice, and then stayed as a hum filled the air. Silvally writhed under the chain, a pained shriek erupting from it. Red energy forked out from the chain like lightning into spoked wheel around Silvally's neck as the broad feathers on its head and finned tail turned red as well. Gladion watched in horror as the chain appeared to sear into its skin like hot iron. He lunged towards it and caught hold of the chain as the Pokemon collapsed onto the ground, still shrieking. He hissed as it burned his hands before he yanked it off of Silvally and threw it onto the ground away from them. The light died out as it hit the grass and it was silent once more, but the plate shattered into several pieces from the impact.

Silvally whined as Gladion embraced its neck and murmured soft apologies to it. Slowly, the red on its body bled back into white, except for where the chain had seared into its neck. He watched as Dawn knelt across from him, trembling hands covering her mouth. Silvally quietly growled at her, but was otherwise too weak to much about her presence as she gently stroked its side.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I had no idea this would happen."

Something tapped his shoulder and Gladion looked up to see Red silently offering him a potion. He took it and began to spray at the wound as Silvally cried from the sting of the medicine. Though the wound began to close, Silvally's breathing was labored and its head fell in Gladion's lap.

As the Pokemon's eyes closed and Silvally fainted, he felt his eye prick with tears and stubbornly took a deep breath to calm dawn.

It would be fine.

 _They_ would be fine.

At least, that was what he hoped.

The last time he had been this frightened was the day Silvally had decided to 'evolve' from Type: Null. He awoke to screaming as the then Type: Null desperately clawed at its restrictive helmet and smashed its head against the boulder that they had camped next to. Fearing that something was horribly wrong, he had tried to reach out to it and stroke it to calm it down. It danced away from him, still crying out into the otherwise quiet night.

He helplessly watched as Type: Null thrashed and writhed until finally, there was a cracking noise and the helmet split in half. He threw his arms up to cover his eyes when the Pokemon was suddenly engulfed in white light and all he could think of was Faba going on about how the helmet had been for both the good of the researchers and the Pokemon, how it didn't know how to control its own tremendous power. It seemed like it was trying to harm itself deliberately and Gladion feared it had finally snapped.

Something nudged at his arms and he carefully lowered them. There, standing before him, was a white Pokemon. It looked like Null, but it held itself proudly instead of bowing down in pain from the helmet and the dirt and grime that covered its body was gone. Large feathers fanned out from its head and waved softly in the wind.

Gladion cautiously reached out a hand to the Pokemon and it nuzzled it affectionately with its silver beak. It wasn't Null anymore, but something new completely.

The later named Silvally was now resting in its ball in the nearest Pokemon Center to Iki Town on the outskirts of Hau'oli while its trainer anxiously waited in the malasada shop nearby, having been dragged there by Hau and the three champions. The nurse at the Center told him it would take quite a while for Silvally to recover from the damage the chain had wrought on it and Gladion had been fully prepared to spend the night in the Center's lobby. Ever concerned and irritating Hau had led him away with a hand on the small of his back after much convincing, with a promise to check in on it soon.

The quartet sat quietly together at the counter in the shop, watching as tourists passed by the front window. Red silently fed the Pikachu in his lap bits of malasada until it firmly refused any more and curled up to doze.

"I'm really sorry, Gladion," Dawn said once more, eyes downcast. "I had no idea this would happen."

"It's fine, it was just an accident," he replied, though it was not fine. Anxiety danced around in his chest and the world started to rock back and forth slightly until he felt like a teetering Spinda. Hau seemed to sense his distress and had grabbed his hand under the counter, squeezing it gently before running a thumb softly across the back of it.

"Well, at least we know now it probably has some weird connection to Arceus," Blue remarked as he stole the rest of Red's malasada. "You have most of Silvally's genome mapped out back at the Foundation, right?"

"Yeah, but they don't really match anything in our database. At least, not completely."

Blue grinned and fished something out of his pocket and presented it to Gladion.

"That's probably because you don't have any DNA from Arceus in your database," he smugly told him. In his hand was a vial with a few white hairs.

"Wait, you had this the entire time?" Gladion asked, incredulous. "We could have saved Silvally so much pain!" Hau squeezed his leg gently as he felt the rage build up alongside the anxiety in his chest. His hand was probably the only reason he didn't leap out of the chair and start swinging at Blue.

"Sorry, kid," Blue said. He didn't look very apologetic and Gladion resisted the urge to kick him under the counter. "It was faster to see if it had a connection through the chain first. While sequencing itself doesn't take very much time anymore, it will only give us the raw data. It'll take quite a while to analyze and compare both Silvally's and Arceus' DNA sequences to see how closely they match, if at all. The encounter today told us more than we'll probably know for quite a while.

"Luckily, you have a geneticist here who's willing to waste the next few weeks of his life and help your team read the sequence!" This time, Blue was kicked, but by Red instead of Gladion. He yelped and shot a glare at Red. "What was that for?"

Red just glared at him as his Pikachu, which had been jolted awake by the kick, sleepily struggled to climb up his chest onto its usual perch on his shoulders. He gave it a boost and it nuzzled against his cheek with its own.

"You're letting Pikachu get too chubby," Blue pointed out and Gladion turned his attention away as a mostly one-sided brawl kicked up between the two friends. Dawn rolled her eyes at them as she finished off the milkshake she'd ordered with her malasada. Hau's hand crept around to his hip and Gladion allowed the small hug to happen. He felt the welling anxiety in his chest deflate slightly and he let his head fall forward onto his arms.

Later, as they left the malasada shop, Red caught his elbow and tugged him back as the rest of their friends walked ahead.

"It's alright to be upset," he told Gladion as the Pikachu reached across the gap between them to snag a piece of Gladion's hair between its paws and brought it up to mouth to chew on it. "I would be too, if anything happened to Pikachu."

Without another word, he started back after Blue. Gladion could only look after him in awe as he touched the wet lock of hair the Pikachu had chewed on. Red had never spoken any words before, much less to him.

"Gladion, are you coming?" Hau called, and Gladion jogged to catch up with them.

As the sun set over the ocean, Gladion finally received a call from the Pokemon Center to come pick up Silvally. As soon as he received its ball back from the nurse and thanked her, he called it out. Silvally staggered a bit as it found its footing, but seemed fine other than that. The burn around its neck had completely disappeared, leaving behind only a bald ring right where the feathers of its head met the fur of its main body.

It hissed a warning at Dawn and the others and danced around Gladion's proffered hand for a while until finally approaching. It flinched when he brought up his other hand to stoke its crest and he felt his heart ache at its distrust.

"I'm so sorry, buddy," he whispered to it. Silvally just grumbled in response and tossed its head irritably. Gladion jumped when he felt a hand touch the small of his back.

"It looks like it was able to make a full recovery," Hau said as he offered a Pokebean to Silvally on an outstretched hand. It eagerly snapped it up and ate it before licking his hand for any remnants. "I'm really glad."

"Me too," Gladion mumbled as he watched Silvally mouth at Hau's hand in hopes another bean would appear. Hau laughed and produced another one from his pocket. "Do you just carry those around in your pocket?"

"They're great to have on hand for dealing with Pokemon around the island," Hau explained, "especially when my grandpa's Tauros is being difficult. They also help to have when you live with a moody Pokemon that seems to dislike everything except its trainer and Pokebeans."

Gladion chuckled at that and ran a hand over Silvally's beak. It was still skittish, but at least it would let him touch it.

"Come on, let's head back to the house," Hau said. "The others are staying with us tonight, by the way."

"Oh? And how is that going to work out?" he asked as he called back Silvally into its ball and they exited the Center.

"Well, Blue and Red volunteered to sleep on the couches and I was planning on giving Dawn my bed," he said as they turned to walk towards the beachfront where they'd left the others.

"And where will you sleep?" Gladion asked as he felt the tips of his ears flush with heat. He presumed his neck was probably starting to flush as well.

"On the floor in the living room, probably," Hau replied as he linked a few of his fingers through Gladion's own. "I didn't want to presume anything, in case you weren't comfortable with it."

"You can sleep in my bed."

"With you in it?"

"...yes," Gladion mumbled as they finally reached the beach. Hau grinned at him and hopped up onto the retaining wall and started carefully walking down it, one foot in front of the other, towards where Dawn sat. She was watching Red and Blue's Pokemon kick up sand in a playful brawl. The bird Pokemon from earlier stood on beach beneath her, keeping a watchful eye on other rowdy Pokemon. Red and Blue recalled their Pokemon as they approached, as did Dawn (apparently her Pokemon was an Empoleon, if he heard her correctly). They agreed on eating at the buffet in the mall (as most trainers were smart enough to let three different champions have their pick of what food remained)l and before too long were walking back to the house in near darkness, with Red's Pikachu lighting the way. A conversation about different regional foods and their effects on Pokemon lulled and Gladion found the opportunity to bring up something that had been bothering him.

"Dawn, you were talking earlier about Arceus was bound to its current form by the wheel on its back. What did you mean by that?"

"Exactly what I said earlier. Haven't you seen the wheel depicted with it in images before?"

"I always thought that was some weird aura floating around it," Hau admitted, and Gladion agreed. Dawn shook her head.

"No, it's a literal wheel that loops around its back," she explained. "I'll have to draw a picture of it when we get back. With the reputation it has as the creator of the universe, you can imagine Arceus has unlimited power. Well, had. From what I've discovered in my research, it appears some sort of binding was put on it in early history, perhaps almost pre-history, to limit the power it could wield against humans. The binding, or the wheel, makes it so Arceus's power is limited by the plates held by it instead of it wielding every aspect of every type in existence."

"So why was the chain necessary?" Gladion asked. "If it was already bound, why create another binding?"

"Perhaps it was meant to bind other Pokemon from legends," Dawn mused as they approached the house. "I've certainly seen it used like that before. In any case it seems to be an imperfect copy of the binding used on Arceus. The other one in existence snapped and this one seemed to not react well to its host."

"Silvally is an imperfect copy of Arceus, though," Blue pointed out. Hau rushed ahead and unlocked the door to let them all in. "Maybe it was reacting to that instead?"

"Maybe," Gladion unhappily said. Silvally was hardly an imperfect anything in his opinion, but he knew Blue was being practical in his description.

Dawn bounced over to the couch as Red and Hau started to gather up food bowls for the Pokemon and take them outside, as some of the visiting Pokemon were far too large to fed indoors. Gladion handed Silvally's ball to Hau as he strolled by so it could eat as well. She grabbed a notebook out of the backpack that lay beside the boxes from earlier and Gladion eyed the crate holding the chain with a sick feeling in his stomach. She flipped through the pages and stopped at one.

"Oh, it looks like I already had a detailed sketch," she told him as she handed the notebook to him. What looked to be a wheel with gems set in cross sections of the spokes sprouting out from the center was sketched on the page, with small notes in the margin. Hau peered over his shoulder as he walked by and suddenly stopped.

"That looks like-"

"It's the same pattern as Type: Null's control mask," Gladion whispered in awe. "Or at least part of it." He handed the notebook back to Dawn and beelined for his bedroom, where he dug a shoebox out from under the bed. Four pairs of curious eyes watched him emerge from the room and held out the box for Dawn to take.

"Silvally didn't always look like it does now," he explained as she opened it up and carefully took out one of the smaller fragments. "When I first...met...it, the scientists at the Aether Foundation had put a control mask of sorts on it to control it. I haven't been able to find any notes on it other than that, however. I have a feeling that Faba destroyed most of the information associated with the Type: Null experiments before I could get to it."

He watched as she carefully fit together two of the axial pieces. "It does definitely resemble the wheel, without the gap for the plates."

"Well, the Foundation didn't need that, did they?" Blue pointed out. "They already managed to mimic Arceus' ability to change types with RKS system. They just needed the ability to control Type: Null's power."

"Is there any possible way we could piece this back together?" Dawn asked. "Or perhaps turn it into something else? I would hate to subject Silvally to wearing this on its head once more, poor thing. It's strange though: I'm not exactly sure what this material is, whether it's metal or stone."

"Olivia, the Kahuna of Akala Island, knows a thing or two about metalsmithing and rocks," Hau said. "We can try taking it to her in the morning if she's not busy and see what she makes of it. Perhaps she'll have a suggestion about what to we should do."

"We can get started on sequencing this sample at the Foundation tomorrow, too, if you think your sister can give us access to the labs," Blue said and yawned, before flopping back onto the couch across Red's lap. Red was clearly not amused by this and tried to shove him off. "I think we should probably get some rest for tonight."

Everyone murmured in agreement and Gladion and Blue went outside to recall the Pokemon into their balls while Red, Dawn, and Hau put down fresh bedding for the couches and Hau's own bed.

"So, you and Hau, huh?" Blue whispered conspiratorially as the last Pokemon was recalled. Pikachu and Raichu darted by into the house, obviously still chasing each other, and Silvally nudged Gladion's side as it walked by. Gladion shot him a sharp look. "Hey, I'm not judging, I'm just-oww!"

Gladion quickly resumed his normal posture when Red came to the sliding door, as if he hadn't just punched Blue in the stomach. Red raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as usual and treated Blue with a raised eyebrow that seemed to say, "whatever you did, you probably deserved that."

"I did not!" Blue protested. "This kid has anger issues!"

Gladion ignored his complaints and walked back into the house. Silvally had curled up on its large bed in the corner of the room, out cold, and Pikachu and Raichu were snuggled nose-to-nose in the other. Dawn had already disappeared, presumably into Hau's room and Hau himself, already in his pajamas, stood by the door to Gladion's room. He felt his stomach do a strange flip as he approached and it must have shown on his face, because Hau softly told him, "I can still sleep on the floor, you know."

He shook his head and walked past him into the room. Hau followed and shut the door behind him. Gladion could faintly hear through the door, "I am not sleeping in here with that thing! It's going to maul me in the middle of the night!"

"Only if he's as loud asleep as he is awake," Gladion muttered under his breath, and Hau laughed. Gladion grabbed a baggy shirt from his drawers and sleep pants and shed the shirt he was wearing with his back to Hau. He scrambled to get the other one over his head, but was shaking too much to completely pull it down before Hau's attention was back on him. He felt a hand slip under his shirt and gently trace the scars that curved from his back around to his stomach, and shivered.

"Would you mind telling me about these?" Hau murmured into his ear as he wrapped his arms around him and softly kissed his cheek.

"Not much to tell," Gladion said as he squirmed in Hau's hold. He released him long enough that Gladion could change into his sleep pants. "Most are from Type: Null when we were first training together. Others are from Lusamine or my time with Team Skull. They're not a big deal."

Hau latched on again, this time face-to-face with him, and slowly walked him backwards to the bed as he held him. "If they're not a big deal, then why are you so shy about me seeing them?"

"I just...they're not exactly pleasant thoughts. I don't want to have them mix with the happy ones." Hau grinned and reluctantly let go of Gladion so he get on the bed.

"Oh? Am I one of those happy thoughts?" he asked as climbed next to Gladion and tugged him back into an embrace.

"Maybe," Gladion said with a smirk, leaning in towards Hau so his breath danced over his lips, "when you're not being an idiot, that is."

"What about right now though?"

"You're definitely one of them."

Hau smiled and closed the gap between their lips. This time, any sweetness that they had the first time was replaced by an almost furor that caused heat to pool low in Gladion's stomach. When Hau finally pulled away after sucking on his tongue in a way that made Gladion whimper softly when he stopped, they were both panting.

"Love," he murmured huskily as he pecked on Gladion the lips again, "you are going to absolutely wreck me one day with the noises you make."

"Would that day be today?" Gladion asked breathlessly and Hau groaned and kissed him again.

"No, unfortunately," Hau said as they broke away from the kiss again. "Not today. I wish, and I think you do too, but not only do we have visitors in the next room, I think we also need to talk about what this is."

Gladion's chest clenched painfully as he felt his anxiety set in. Did Hau not want this? Then why was he acting like he did?

Hau saw his panic and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead as he hugged him tightly. "I'm not saying that I don't like where this is going, Gladion. I want this. I want _you_ , more than I've ever wanted anyone. But I need to know what you think this is and what you want from it."

"I just want you," Gladion whispered as he hid his face in Hau's chest. "I don't know how long this will last or even if it will last, but I just want to be together with you, not anyone else."

Hau smiled softly at him.

"That's a good start, I think," he whispered back as he pressed a kiss on top of Gladion's head. "I don't want anyone else either, but I wanted to make sure we were on the same page about things. I don't want either of us to get hurt by this."

Gladion felt a painful lump rise up in his throat.

"I'm afraid I'll hurt you."

"We'll work through it though if you do. Part of being together is learning how to just _be_ with the other person."

"I'm also not the most stable person in the world."

"I know, but that's just another part of you. I like all of you."

"I'm also not the best looking person you could be with."

Hau chuckled. "I beg to differ on that. I think you're the most gorgeous person I know."

Gladion thought his face must be as red as a Tamato berry at that moment. He reluctantly let Hau pry him off his chest and tilt his chin up to kiss him again before he climbed off the bed and went to hit the switch on the light. He gathered up Gladion in his arms again when he returned and kissed him again, lightly, as he pulled the blankets up over them.

"Now, as much as I would love to spend the entire night just kissing you, we should probably rest. I have a feeling that tomorrow is going to be hectic."

"One last question?"

"Just one?" Hau asked with a jokingly serious tone. Gladion glared at him and he chuckled. "Okay, I'm listening."

"Is this why you didn't kiss me these last couple of weeks? Because you weren't sure what I thought about all of this?"

"Yes," Hau admitted. "I wanted to make sure it wasn't just something weird that came out of a fever. I was already going to talk with you about it today, but you see how well that went. And I did kiss you."

"You know what I mean, you idiot."

Hau yawned suddenly, and said, "Enough for tonight. We'll talk about it more tomorrow when we get a chance. Good night, Gladion."

"Good night, Hau."

They awoke the next morning to a scream and a crash from the next room. Hau rushed to throw open the door and revealed a tipped over couch with Blue still on it, a sleepy Red sitting up in bed, and Silvally standing by the tipped over couch. The door to Hau's room opened a moment later, revealing a very frazzled and grumpy Dawn.

"It was just standing there, looming over me while I slept and staring at me!" Blue cried as he scrambled away from the couch and Silvally, who moved around it to stalk over near him once more. "I swear, that thing is plotting how to murder me!"

Gladion groaned and called for Silvally. It reluctantly left Blue's side to greet its trainer by softly mouthing his fingers. "Stop antagonizing him," he told it sternly. A quick glance out the glass doors revealed the sun had only barely started its ascent, turning the sky a dark shade of grey.

Hau only laughed as Dawn slammed the door to bedroom, probably intent on getting more sleep. Red, realizing what had woken him up, threw a pillow at Blue before flopping back down onto the couch and pulling the blankets over his head.

It was going to be a long day indeed.


End file.
